Former Buccaneers Revisit Super Run

Monday

Dec 10, 2012 at 1:12 AM

Yes, you can look it up. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did win the Super Bowl once, and it wasn't even that long ago.

By DICK SCANLONTHE LEDGER

TAMPA | Yes, you can look it up. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did win the Super Bowl once, and it wasn't even that long ago.Much of the joy of their 2002 championship has been obscured by the unraveling aftermath — back-to-back losing seasons that followed, the ugly departures of some of the stars, the failure of the offense ever to duplicate the level of play in its championship run, the failure of coach Jon Gruden ever to win another playoff game. Which made it all the more refreshing to see the team re-assembled Sunday and the players, dressed in their bright red game jerseys, taking some bows on a pristine December afternoon in a packed stadium.We were reminded that there was just one moment in time when everything worked perfectly and the Bucs won it all. The '02 Bucs, a team that may have had five players who will wind up in the Pro Football of Fame, were reminded that they were once the undisputed champions of the NFL.Warren Sapp, now a talking head on The NFL Netowork, got pretty charged up about the ovation he received while running out onto the field."That left knee never felt so good," Sapp said. "I thought I had a couple more rushes in me but nahhh! It's just special. It's just a special place."And 2002 was a special year, culminating in the 48-21 rout of the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII on Jan. 26, 2003.It was the climax of a long building process that started with Sapp, Mike Alstott, Warrick Dunn, Derrick Brooks, coach Tony Dungy and some others in 1996. The process included a lot of frustration and disappointment, including the dismissal of Dungy in January of 2002. But at that particular moment, the moment of Super Bowl triumph, it looked quite possible that the Bucs, who had assembled one of the great defensive teams of all-time, might be poised to win another Super Bowl or two.Alas, it almost always looks that way when you're holding up the Lombardi Trophy."It's kind of weird," recalled Alstott. "I don't really remember the feeling of us saying: ‘Wow, we're here.' It wasn't like that. It was more of a feeling of let's do it again."They started the 2003 season with an impressive shutout at Philadelphia, and then cracks began to form. The cracks grew wider as players got older and injured, and things got tense in the locker room, and mistakes were made and fingers were pointed.From the perspective of 10 years later, that championship run of December 2002/January 2003 was just a moment. It came and went so quickly, much like Sunday's ceremony that had to be squeezed into the NFL's 13-minute halftime."As tight as that team was then, it seems to be that tight right now," wide receiver Joe Jurevicius said. "I think it shows you how good a true team, full of camaraderie, can be. We were that, and we still are."I think everything happened for a reason, and I think what you saw were a bunch of guys with different talents come in and piece it all together."Many of them, including Gruden and Jurevicius, were with the Bucs for the first time in 2002. That's why the team finished so much stronger than it started."After the first few games of the season, we learned to play with each other because we had a new head coach, we had a new running back (Michael Pittman), a couple new pieces at receiver with Keenan (McCardell) and myself," Jurevicius said. "There were some things we had to work on and we did, and I think things turned out pretty good."Things have turned out pretty well for Gruden, who is more famous as an analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football than he ever was a coach.Gruden was peppered with the usual questions about a return to coaching, to which he responded with the stock: "I've got a great job; I'm just trying to hang on to that one."He tries to hang onto some of that 2002 season, too."I'm staying in close contact with a lot of the guys, but some of them I couldn't keep in contact with when I was coaching them," he said. "To get them all in the same room again was emotional for me. It was really something."One member of the championship team who didn't have such a good day was Ronde Barber, who is still playing and had to take part in the 23-21 loss that basically knocked the 2012 Bucs out of playoff contention."It was nice to see all those guys, but it had nothing to do with the product on the field," Barber said. "It's 2012 and that was 10 years ago. They celebrated rightfully, but it has nothing to do with this team."Back to reality.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.